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In July 2016, a few weeks before my 25th birthday, I was diagnosed with Hairy Cell Leukemia - a chronic, slow-growing blood cancer. Thankfully, HCL has a good prognosis. I'll be flying to Washington DC to participate in a clinical trial for HCL patients at the NIH. This podcast will be a diary of my treatment experience, as well as a place to explore some of the questions that this diagnosis has brought up for me: How do I cope with being faced with my mortality? How do I live with a chronic ...
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On November 23rd, I got some good news: I'm in complete remission with no minimal residual disease! This will be the last episode of the podcast for now - so here are some closing thoughts and intentions going forward. I also sit down for a conversation with my boyfriend Hoku about what this experience was like for him as a primary support person d…
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HCL patients are lucky in that most of us respond well to the available treatments, but there’s no denying that it’s a serious disease, and there have been points when it brought death and mortality to the front of my mind. I tend to have pretty interesting conversations about this stuff with my brother Art so I asked him to join me on the podcast …
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After a longish hiatus, here's One Day at a Time, a new episode that covers the remainder of the time I spent in DC for the first half of my treatment. There were days of fatigue and intense nausea, and days of fun with visiting family and friends. Days that I felt overwhelmed and days that I felt totally capable of handling this. Usually, the latt…
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On October 9th, we flew to Washington DC so that I could get treated at a clinical trial at the NIH. After a couple days of every kind of screening test imaginable, I was officially in the trial and could start treatment. This episode documents the first week of treatment, and my first trip to the nation's capital.…
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I have decided to participate in a clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health in Washington DC, to receive a combination treatment with two drugs - Cladribine and Rituximab. Particularly for any other HCL patients out there, this might be a helpful, brief primer into how the two drugs work.By Anna and the Hairy Cells
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My name is Anna, and in July 2016, I was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia, a rare, slow-growing blood cancer of the B cells. During the past few months, I’ve kept notes on my day-to-day experiences and conversations. And now, as I get ready to start my treatment, I wanted to go back to tell the story of my diagnosis. My brother Haik helps to prov…
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